revelationspacefandomcom-20200213-history
Nostalgia for Infinity
The Nostalgia for Infinity was originally an Ultra-owned lighthugger. History Sometime centuries before the outbreak of the Melding Plague, the crew of the Nostalgia for Infinity ''managed to locate -- and circumvent the security measures of - a Conjoiner asteroid in a nameless brown dwarf system. The automated installation contained the intentionally forgotten cache weapons, which were appropriated by the Ultras. Over the intervening centuries thirty-one of the weapons' control systems were accessed, 80% of their activation codes acquired, seventeen of them were tested, and two of those in battle conditions. In 2460 the vessel was secretly infected with the digital entity known as Sun Stealer, which was unknowingly brought aboard by Dan Sylveste after he was infected in the area surrounding Lascaille's Shroud. Eventually it became trapped in the lighthugger's gunnery systems -- as the weapons network as designed for security reasons to allow digital information in, but never allow it out. In 2543 Boris Nagorny, the vessel's gunnery officer, was killed by Ilia Volyova in self-defense. After being hooked into the gunnery station via neural implants, the man had become unknowingly infected by Sun Stealer in its attempt to escape its prison, and was slowly driven insane. In 2546 ''Nostalgia for Infinity ''arrived in the Yellowstone system, in search of Dan Sylveste and a cure for their diseased captain. After docking at Carousel New Brazilia and discovering that he had left on a research mission to Resurgam decades ago, plans were immediately made to follow him. However, before departure, the crew "recruited" Ana Khouri, as a replacement gunnery officer for the deceased Boris Nagorny. After an incident with one of the cache weapons which led to its destruction in interstellar space, the vessel arrived in the Delta Pavonis system in 2566. Waiting silently in orbit, the crew prepared to extract Sylveste by running combat simulations; unfortunately, in one such drill Kjarval -- whose combat suit was under the control of either Sun Stealer or the Mademoiselle -- tried to kill Khouri, and was killed by Volyova. During the actual extraction, Sudjic, Nagorny's former lover, attempted to kill Ilia in revenge for driving him insane with her "experiments"; she failed, and was killed by Ana. By 2567 Sun Stealer had escaped into the rest of the ship's systems and killed both Sajaki and Hegazi, until Ilia released the captain's diseased form and he infected -- and thus controlled -- the lighthugger, finally killing Sun Stealer. In 2633, the vessel single-handedly evacuated 160,000 of the 200,000 citizens of Resurgam, despite being interrupted by Nevil Clavain and the ''Zodiacal Light ''-- who were attempting to recover the stolen cache weapons. After the brief conflict command of the vessel was voluntarily passed from Ilia Volyova to Clavain, with the Conjoiner Remontiore taking command of the damaged ''Zodiacal Light. In 2651, Nostalgia for Infinity ''arrived in the p Eridani system, having fled both the Inhibitors and Skade's armada, and came to rest on a planet named Ararat. Over twenty years later, in 2675, the ''Infinity ''left that world with only a fraction of its original population, fleeing a battle between Inhibitors machines, the ''Zodiacal Light, ''and Skade's faction. It traveled back to Yellowstone and arrived in 2698, only to find the Epsilon Eridani system in the process of being destroyed by more Inhibitors. Changing course yet again, it fled to the 107 Piscium system, chasing Aura's hints about Hela and shadows. The vessel arrived in 2717, but (having deployed Aura as a long-term sleeper agent) waited until 2727 to make their presence known. After fighting off an attempted takeover by Quaiche's followers, the ''Infinity was eventually forced to land on Hela, where it was invaded once again. It was presumed that Captain Brannigan destroyed the vessel rather than let it fall into the hands of Quaiche's forces. Known crew members Original crew *Captain John Brannigan (Infected by Melding Plague, kept frozen at only a few microkelvin above absolute zero) *The Triumvirate **Triumvir Yuuji Sajaki **Triumvir Abdul Hegazi **Triumvir Ilia Volyova *Other crew members **Sula Kjarval **Sudjic *Gunnery Officer ** Boris Nagorny (until 2543, when he was killed by Volyova) ** Ana Khouri (2546–2566) Post-evacuation crew and passengers *Post-Resurgam evacuation **John Brannigan (captain) **Nevil Clavain **Felka **Scorpio **Antoinette Bax **Xavier Liu *Post-Ararat evacuation **John Brannigan (captain) **Ana Khouri **Aura **Scorpio **Vasko Malinin **Urton **Fazil Khouri (hinted at rescue) Auxilliary craft Known secondary spacecraft carried aboard the Nostalgia, which served as their mothership. 'Original complement' The shuttles and auxilliary craft of the Nostalgia before it joined forces with the crew of the lighthugger Zodiacal Light. *Spherical in-system shuttles - smaller shuttles for transport to habitats **''Melancholia of Departure'' (featured in Revelation Space) *Large orbital shuttle - capable of ferrying 500 people into orbit (featured in Redemption Ark) *In-system auxilliary craft - capable of ferrying 2000 people, only in vacuum, between orbits/lighthuggers (featured in Redemption Ark) 'Later complement' Other auxilliary craft of the Nostalgia, after joining forces with the crew of the Zodiacal Light for the Resurgam evacuation effort. *Armed trikes - modified civilian trikes from the Zodiacal Light (featured in Redemption Ark) *"Claw" shuttles - a Demarchist design (featured in Absolution Gap) *''Storm Bird'' - Antoinette Bax's civilian freighter, rearmed as a small warship, later lost (featured in Redemption Ark) Description Now they were approaching Volyova's ship. The thing, like all the other lighthuggers, was improbably streamlined. Space only approximated a vacuum at slow speeds. Up near lightspeed -- which was where these ships spent most of their time -- it was like cutting through a howling gale of atmosphere. That was why they looked like daggers: conic hull tapering to a needle-sharp prow to punch the interstellar medium, with two Conjoiner engines braced at the back on spars like an ornate hilt. The ship was sheathed in ice, so glisteningly pure that it looked like diamond. The shuttle swooped in low over Volyova's ship, and for a moment Khouri apprehended the ship's vastness. It was like flying over a city, not another vessel. Then a door irised open in the hull, revealing a glowing docking bay. Volyova guided the shuttle home with expert taps on her thruster controls, latching onto a berthing cradle. Khouri heard thumps as umbilicals and docking connectors thudded home. - excerpt from chapter 5 of Revelation Space Revelation Space (2000), chapter 5 Appearances *Inhibitor trilogy ** Revelation Space (2000) ** Redemption Ark (2002) ** Absolution Gap (2003) Notes * The Nostalgia for Infinity ''features heavily in the [[Revelation Space|''Revelation Space]] and overall Inhibitor trilogy story arcs. * Melancholia of Departure was a non-atmospheric shuttle used by Volyova to transport Khouri from Yellowstone, presumably owned by -- and kept aboard -- Nostalgia for Infinity. * Storm Bird, a freighter owned and operated by Antoinette Bax and originally attached to Zodiacal Light, was instrumental in evacuating Resurgam. Gallery Revelation Space (Romanian edition by Nemira).jpg|The Nostalgia for Infinity on the Romanian cover of the novel Revelation Space Fan art For fan art depicting the Nostalgia (and other lighthuggers and ship types), please visit the fan art showcase. References See also *Lighthugger - The principal interstellar spacecraft type used by humanity, the Nostalgia being one of many. *''Zodiacal Light'' - Became the impromptu sister ship of the Nostalgia for Infinity during the events of the Inhibitor trilogy. Category:Ships N